A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed. Yes this will be a Pan/Vegeta fic, eventually. But there's a bit to go before it gets to that. Hope you enjoy this chapter. No flames but constructive criticism welcome. I may have to change the rating later. Maybe.
I don't own DBGT or any of the characters.
Kia Ora
Chapter One"Goku..."
Pan and Goku smiled sheepishly. Goku raised his hand and waved Son style.
"Hi everyone."
Pandemonium broke out.
The two Saiyans were buried under an attack of bodies. They found themselves suffocating from tight embraces and all they could hear was incomprehensible babble. The only thing they could do was hang on and hope their efforts made to return alive were not in vain.
After the first wave of attack they were carried inside and eschewed upon the living room couch. Just as attackers were gearing up for another wave, Pan turned to her grandfather and glaring, hissed "I told you we should have gone to Papas house. There would've been fewer people there and they would have seen us first! But did you listen to me? Nooo! You're the mighty Goku. Of course you know best."
Goku glared back "How was I supposed to know there would be more here than at Gohans? Plus, this is nothing compared to what Chichis going to do to me!"
"Puh-lease!! I told you what it would be like. And grandmas only going to be worse because the Briefs saw us first – Before her!"
Gokus eyes widened at that and he paled slightly. "Oops"
During their tirade the room had fallen silent and they looked up to see 5 pairs of eyes, well 4 pairs of eyes staring at them fascinated and 1 pair glaring at them for interrupting his training. Again they smiled sheepishly.
Vegeta grunted in disgust. "So it seems Kakarot has finally deemed fit to return and he's bought the wayward brat back with him" He smirked as all eyes swung to find him slouching against the kitchen doorway, arms crossed, dressed in custom black and his eyes cold.
"Hey Vegeta! It's great to see you again. How have you been?" Gokus cheerful greeting made Vegeta grimace and he was about to retort icily when 4 other voices interrupted, clamouring for attention.
The questions and accusations were being fired rapidly at the pair sitting on the couch and their eyes started to glaze. After 10 solid minutes of questioning and no answers Goten had had enough. "Well? What do you have to say for yourselves? Are you going to answer our questions? Dad, Pan?"
Pan, who'd had enough, raised her hand stopping the continued questions.
"Ok, ok. Here's what's gonna happen. Grandpa and I are going to go and have a shower and get changed – if that's all right Bulma? One of you can ring Mama and Papa and tell them to come over with Grandma and when everyone is here we'll tell you everything and answer your questions. Ok? Great."
With that Goku and Pan disappeared up the stairs leaving behind 5 very stunned people.
Was that really little Pan who took charge?
Trunks shook his head to clear the thought and moved to call the Sons.
Goten stood rooted to the spot as his long absented father and niece disappeared up the stairs toward the guest bathrooms. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Bura sidled up beside him and slipped an arm around his waist. She rested her head on his shoulder. She sighed. "Wow."
He could only nod. He never thought he'd see his father again. And Pan – after she'd disappeared when she was 17 they'd given up hope of seeing her again. Now 6 years later here they both were. They just turned up out of the blue. He shook his head again in amazement and sat, pulling Bura to sit on his lap. She looked at him in worry. "Are you alright?"
"Yeaah..Actually yeah! They're home! They're finally home!" He grinned at her, amazed. She smiled back and wrapped her arms around him. "Pan sounded so different."
"Well, it has been 6 years," Gotens smile slipped, "I'm sure she's still the same old Pan though."
Buras reply was interrupted by a gruff voice "I wouldn't count on that, brat. She's changed all right. Just you wait. And get your third class hands off my daughter." Vegeta smirked at their surprised faces and resumed his position holding up the doorway as Trunks walked past him out of the kitchen.
The lavender haired man walked over to Bulma where she sat staring at the bottom of the stairs.
"I rang the Sons and asked them to come over. Gohan sounded suspicious, but when I told him it was about Pan he hung up on me. I had to ring back and tell him to bring Chichi."
Just as he finished his sentence the doorbell rang. Bulma jumped up from her seat and rushed to the door. She yanked it open revealing the worried faces of Gohan, Videl and Chichi. Videl was holding Gosan in her arms.
She ushered them all down to the living room and motioned for them to take seats. They did so; looking around and noticing everyone's shocked countenances. Gohan caught Gotens eye and raised an eyebrow, questioning. Goten just shrugged.
Chichi broke the tense silence. "What's going on, Bulma? Trunks said something about Pan..." Her voice trailed off as Vegeta turned his inscrutable onyx gaze on her.
"Just wait." His tone was curt.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as they waited. Bulma had to hold herself back from rushing out of the room and dragging Goku and Pan out. They would come eventually. She hoped.
Meanwhile...the two suspects in question had met up in one of the guestrooms and were busy drawing up a battle plan.
"Right, by the time we get down there Chichi and your parents would have arrived so we should prepare for another round of attack. Our best defence would be to dodge and evade and then when the last shots have been fired and things calm down then we can pull out the big guns and tell them the news." Goku ran his fingers through his hair a final time, turned and sat in satisfaction with his plan.
Pan stared at him. "This isn't a war grandpa. We can't use warfare strategies to plan how we greet our family."
Goku was incredulous. "Have you ever been greeted by our family after being away for a long period of time?"
Pan scowled up at him from her position on the floor. "The last and only other time I was away for any length of time was when I was with you looking for the Black Star DragonBalls. I was 14 and as you recall our home reception wasn't quite normal. At least, I don't think your parents trying to kill you is normal."
"Hmm you have a point. But that just shows you don't know what you're in for. Think about how the Briefs and Goten reacted and then times it by 100," Pan paled, "Exactly." Goku sat back satisfied that his point had been made. "Anyway if we let them fawn over us for a while then we get fed afterwards."
He smiled, his mind already on the food he knew would be prepared for him.
"Grandpa! We've been gone of ages. They won't be fawning. They'll be yelling. And you know you won't get anything to eat until you've told them the whole story!"
"You're right!" Goku shot up in horror, taking his hands from behind his head where he'd had them positioned. His smug look disappeared in exchange for one of dismay.
Pan stood and started to pace. "Ok, new plan. We suffer through the first wave and then you tell your story. I tell mine and we get fed somewhere in between."
Goku raised an eyebrow. "Who's using war tactics now?"
Pan growled.
"Ok. Well we'd better go. They're getting restless."
Pan wiped her suddenly sweaty hands on her pants. "How do I look?"
Goku grinned at her question and she squirmed. He took a minute to have a look at her. He then sighed. His little granddaughter wasn't so little anymore. He realised she hadn't been for a while now. Her lustrous raven hair was still shoulder length and held back by a bit of his old orange gi. Her eyes were deep black and were framed by thick black lashes. She had inherited her mothers' cute upturned nose and her grandmothers' lush mouth. Her face was set by her strong chin and although she wasn't tall the aura of strength that surrounded her demanded attention. Looking at him with a grave expression she was almost a carbon copy of Gohan, but when she grinned and her eyes shone he was startled to see his face look back at him. He smiled at her. "You look good, Pan."
He wasn't even going to start on the clothes she'd borrowed from Bura. She was going to give her parents as well as any other male in the room, a heart attack.
"Thanks Grandpa. So do you. We should go."
He nodded and followed her out the door. Something else that he'd noticed but was going to keep to himself was that when she fought, she wore a smirk that was eerily remiss of Vegeta. He shrugged mentally and thought to himself that he'd find out about it later. Right now they had a showdown to attend.